Everyone Is Applauding This National Geographic Cover But The Real Shock Lies Inside The Pages

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National Geographic magazine has just launched an informative and shockingly revealing campaign called Planet or Plastic? and it is something that we all need to see and learn from.

Many of us are aware that there is far too much plastic in our environment. We all feel a little guilty when throwing yet another single-use plastic wrapping straight into the trash, knowing that we are contributing to a problem that is too vast for us to truly comprehend. But what if we were faced with the horrifying consequences of our plastic addiction?

That is one of the aims of the iconic magazine’s campaign as they seek to change the ways consumers use plastic. If consumers and other like-minded organisations are able to work together to bring about a change in mindset at a fundamental level, corporations will hopefully respond to public opinion and reduce the amount of plastic they use in their products. The magazine itself is leading by example, beginning to send out their editions in paper instead of plastic. Because every change, no matter how futile it may seem, helps at some level. The campaign has identified plastic bags, bottles and straws as problematic products, and urges consumers to take a pledge to dramatically reduce their use of them by making simple conscious choices. Will you take the pledge?

These powerful and heartbreaking images vividly illustrate the damage that 9 million tonnes of plastic waste each year does to our environment and wildlife, and are the beginning of what will be a multi-year initiative to significantly reduce it. Scientists and researchers from the magazine hope to fill knowledge gaps about the long-term impacts of plastic, as it dissolves into microscopic particles that eventually enter our food chain. They also aim to gain a better understanding of its journey from the source here on land, all the way down to the deepest depths of remote ocean floors.

“For 130 years, National Geographic has documented the stories of our planet, providing audiences around the world with a window into the earth’s breathtaking beauty as well as to the threats it faces,” Gary E. Knell, CEO of National Geographic Partners, told the Daily Mail.

“Each and every day, our explorers, researchers and photographers in the field witness firsthand the devastating impact of single-use plastic on our oceans, and the situation is becoming increasingly dire.”

“Through the Planet or Plastic? initiative, we will share the stories of this growing crisis, work to address it through the latest science and research, and educate audiences around the world about how to eliminate single-use plastics and prevent them from making their way into our oceans.”

Scroll down below to see the powerful images for yourself, and check out National Geographic’s campaign here, to further educate yourself about this hugely important issue.

The new issue of National Geographic will feature a campaign about plastic waste

We all feel a little guilty when throwing plastic straight into the trash, knowing that we are contributing to a problem that is too vast for us to truly comprehend

“Under a bridge on a branch of the Buriganga River in Bangladesh, a family removes labels from plastic bottles, sorting green from clear ones to sell to a scrap dealer. Waste pickers here average around $100 a month”

These powerful and heartbreaking images vividly illustrate the damage that 9 million tonnes of plastic waste each year does to our environment and wildlife

“Plastic bottles choke the Cibeles fountain, outside city hall in central Madrid. An art collective called Luzinterruptus filled this and two other Madrid fountains with 60,000 discarded bottles last fall as a way of calling attention to the environmental impact of disposable plastics”

That is one of the aims of the iconic magazine’s campaign as they seek to change the ways consumers use plastic

“An old plastic fishing net snares a loggerhead turtle in the Mediterranean off Spain. The turtle could stretch its neck above water to breathe but would have died had the photographer not freed it. “Ghost fishing” by derelict gear is a big threat to sea turtles”

Will you take the pledge?

“For 130 years, National Geographic has documented the stories of our planet, providing audiences around the world with a window into the earth’s breathtaking beauty as well as to the threats it faces”

“By 2050, virtually every seabird species on the planet will be eating plastic”

“Each and every day, our explorers, researchers and photographers in the field witness firsthand the devastating impact of single-use plastic on our oceans, and the situation is becoming increasingly dire”

“Just after dawn in Kalyan, on the outskirts of Mumbai, India, trash pickers looking for plastics begin their daily rounds at the dump, joined by a flock of birds. In the distance, garbage trucks rolling in from the megacity traverse a garbage valley. The woman carrying the red cloth lives at the landfill”

“After sheets of clear plastic trash have been washed in the Buriganga River, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Noorjahan spreads them out to dry, turning them regularly— while also tending to her son, Momo. The plastic will eventually be sold to a recycler. Less than a fifth of all plastic gets recycled globally”

“Colored chips of plastic—collected, washed, and sorted by hand—dry on the banks of the Buriganga. About 120,000 people work in the informal recycling industry in and around Dhaka, where 18 million inhabitants generate some 11,000 tons of waste a day”

“Recology’s largest San Francisco recycling plant handles 500 to 600 tons daily. One of the few plants in the U.S. that accept shopping bags, it has more than doubled the tonnage it recycles in the past 20 years”

“Through the Planet or Plastic? initiative, we will share the stories of this growing crisis, work to address it through the latest science and research, and educate audiences around the world about how to eliminate single-use plastics and prevent them from making their way into our oceans”

“Trucks full of plastic bottles pull into a recycling facility in Valenzuela, Philippines. The bottles were plucked from the streets of metropolitan Manila by waste pickers, who sell them to scrap dealers, who bring them here. The plastic bottles and caps will be shredded, sold up the recycling chain, and exported”